DIY Chicken Coop Ramp Slope

So, you’ve built your chicken coop, and now you just need to know the chicken coop ramp slope. Congratulations! If you’re anything like me, you didn’t get around to building your chicken coop plans until after you already bought the chicks. (Whoops…) Thank goodness those little peepers grow fast, though. Were you as ready to get your chicks out of the brooder as I was? Holy smokes, they were driving me nuts. Cue amazing, dedicated, efficient chicken coop build action.

We opted for a raised chicken coop, which we designed to be two feet off the ground.

 

What are the advantages of a raised chicken coop?

• It adds space. This was a big one for us. Though it requires adding a chicken coop ramp slope, it’s worth the extra work. We aren’t able to free-range our chickens, but we want them to have as much foraging room as possible. Our coop is roughly 3’x8′. By raising the coop two feet off the ground, we are able to incorporate the space underneath the coop as an exploratory area for them, too. Not only does it provide more room for them to roam, but it provides tons of shade in the summer. Overheating is a big danger to chickens, so we love that our girls have tons of room to take cool dust baths and chill under their coop.
• It provides safety from predators. By requiring a chicken coop ramp slope for our girls to get home, it eliminates that many more entrance points for predators. Sure, if one were to somehow get into their run, it would most likely be able to figure out how to use the chicken coop ramp slope. However, when it comes to protecting chooks, it’s all about layers of deterrent. If one of your layers fails, there should be more in place. Having a raised chicken coop is just another layer of deterrent to potential predators.
• It helps keep things dry. Moisture is right next to extreme heat, as one of the biggest threats to chickens’ health. If your chicken coop is directly on the ground, especially if the ground isn’t properly sloped for water drainage, you’re probably looking at rotting floors at an accelerated rate. Proper decomposition of waste and a healthy chook respiratory system is all about good air movement.

So how do the chickens get from the ground to the raised coop?

After building our raised chicken coop, we needed to determine the correct chicken coop ramp slope for entrance & exit. Currently, our babies are roughly 5 weeks old. They were only 4 weeks old when we transitioned them to living outside, which meant we needed a chicken coop ramp. Many older chickens will avoid the chicken coop ramp slope altogether, and simply fly directly in and out of the door. However, that wasn’t an option for our babies (yet…).

 

How Steep Can The Chicken Coop Ramp Slope Be?

Here are a couple things I’ve learned from entering the chicken community.

1. Everyone is an expert.
2. Many chicken parents are “helicopter hens” (See what I did there? Helicopter parent… hen… hehe…) and over-control is rampant.

The answer to how steep your chicken coop ramp slope should be is pretty simple. Your chicken coop ramp slope can be however steep you need it to be, as long as the chickens can grip to climb. I have a habit of starting projects and not finishing them. When our DIY chicken coop construction was complete, I really didn’t feel like going into all the detail of measuring chicken coop ramp slope angles, lengths, etc..

Here’s what I did.

1. I found a piece of scrap plywood that was tall enough to reach from the ground of the run to the chicken coop door opening.
2. I wedged it in place to make sure it wouldn’t slide. Well, it looked pretty steep. But I figured it was still worth a shot.
3. Since plywood is slippery by itself, I added grip. Many chicken owners lay extra bars of wood across the ramp, as steps for their little chicken feet. For now, I just tightly wrapped our chicken coop ramp slope with extra chicken wire. I imagine their little toes could get stuck in there if they’re not careful, so I do plan on adding permanent wood grips when they get a little older. For now, their steps are so little, I figured this would work better.

 

 

And that’s it!

My girls cruise up and down our chicken coop ramp slope like it’s nobody’s business. Don’t believe me? Check out this video of our steep chicken coop ramp slope in action! They didn’t want much to do with it at first. I had to train them to walk up and down it by enticing them with leafy treats. But after they got the picture, it was smooth sailing from there. When I let them out in the morning, sometimes they fly straight from the door to the ground. Others prefer to walk down in a controlled manner. Still others prefer to use the chicken coop ramp slope as a play slide. (It’s pretty adorable.) Either way, despite its steep climb, my girls seem to have no issue using it whatsoever.

 

One Popular Chicken Coop Ramp Slope is 45 Degrees

If you really want to play by the rules, many hen owners choose to make their chicken coop ramp slope roughly 45 degrees. The argument here is that it’s flat enough that they may explore on their own, yet steep enough that it doesn’t take up too much room in the run. If your chicken coop ramp slope is steeper than 45 degrees, you can always add a platform to lift the bottom of the ramp. This levels out the chicken coop ramp slope angle slightly, and chickens generally don’t have any problem hopping up onto a platform.

That being said, as chickens age, they seem to prefer to simply use their wings to fly directly in and out of the coop. To me, a chicken coop ramp slope is simply more surface area for chicken poo to collect, and for flies to breed. No thanks. I opted to keep my chicken coop ramp slope as short as possible, and my chickens use it just fine.

How steep is your chicken coop ramp slope? I’d love to hear your experiences, too. Have you ever had a ramp that was too steep or not steep enough for your chickens to use?

Disclaimer: We’re not professionals or experts on this topic, so all we can do is share our own personal experience in hopes that it helps you in your journey! We always recommend consulting with the pros directly.